Birthday celebration: dogs in disgrace

Doug's birthday was celebrated with a picnic lunch at the Major Mitchell Campsite, north of Mitchell. The day was mild, overcast and still, prior to steady rain the following day.

Before lunch we walked down to the Maranoa River and then followed it upstream for about 1 km. River she oaks in flower; slender white-trunked river red gums; pieces of fossilised tree trunk and roots; burrs; fungi; chunks of coal;

cliffs studded with mysterious large round rocks; and places where feral pigs had dug up the ground in search of roots – these and much more made our progress interesting.

On the way home we stopped at the top of Orchard Hill to look at the plants growing in the red sand. I love this place. It has a distinct warm, arid, bush smell and the plants are fascinating – diverse and hardy. As usual, I arrived home with seven new plants to add to my collection of drawings.

Major and Del are in disgrace. Doug let them out at 6:30 AM and because they chose not to come in again, they were left outside, where they have beds on the veranda. When we got up at 7:30 AM we found Doug's newly planted vegetable garden dug up, with spinach and broccoli plants spread all over the grass, and a gardening glove chewed. They were not popular!

Fortunately the roots hadn't dried out so the vegetables were replanted and a wire fence erected around the garden.

Del said it wasn't her idea and that Major made her do it! Two sets of dog prints was sufficient evidence to scold both dogs. Talk about payback!